Persona 5

Overview

Persona 5 is a role-playing game developed by P Studio and published by Atlus. The game was officially revealed during a live stream on November 24, 2013 and announced with a target release window of winter 2014 for the PlayStation 3. Series director and producer Katsura Hashino has stated that he wants to "add things that are being expected of the series" as well as "change things that can be changed within those boundaries." On September 1, 2014, a trailer was released which showed the game would also be released for both PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 sometime in 2015.

Themes

Persona 5 will be set in a high school similar to that of Persona 3, however the atmosphere of the school life will be completely different from that of Persona 3 and Persona 4. The game will deal with the theme of experiencing the emotion of joy after overcoming certain trials, freeing oneself of their "chains", represented by the chair and chains motif found in the game's pre-release advertising campaign.

Main Characters

The following characters have been revealed:

Protagonist (Named by the player in-game): a high-school boy who secretly dons a fancy mask and moonlights as a thief called "The Phantom." Fights with knives and pistols.

Anne Takamaki (高巻 杏): A blonde girl and another classmate of the Protagonist's who joins in his heists. Wears a cat mask and fights with whips and submachine guns.

Morgana (モルガナ): A shapeshifting cat that joins the protagonist in his heists. Wields swords and slingshots

Igor: the master of the Velvet Room who sets the Protagonist off on his journey.

Igor's assistants: Unlike previous games, Igor is assisted by young twins. Both wear an eyepatch over one eye and are dressed in prison guard-style uniforms.

Munehisa Iwai: Owner of the Military Shop "Untouchable". Sells weapons to the Protagonist and his party.

Takemi Tae: Owner of the Takemi Medical Clinic.

Development

Persona 5 started development after that of Catherine's ended in 2011. It was initially planned to be developed for handheld platforms, however the development staff decided against this and chose the PlayStation 3 as they figured the majority of fans wanted Persona 5 to be an HD experience.

Pre-reveal

In September of 2009, Shoji Meguro was listed on Sony's site as the producer for the game. Meguro has served as the music composer for all entries in the Persona series to date and also served as the director of the PSP remake of the original Persona. His official capacity in regards to development on Persona 5 was officially revealed in the Persona 5 trailer, where he is credited as the game's composer.

In interviews upon the release of Catherine, Meguro has stated he'll be able to discuss the RPG that he and Hashino are developing following Catherine's release. This RPG is presumed to be Persona 5.

In a recent Famitsu interview discussing developers' aspirations for the new year of 2012, it was stated by Atlus that "that title you’ve been waiting for may be announced." The title in question is presumed to be Persona 5.

Shortly after the release of Persona 4 Arena (August 2012), Katsura Hashino stated that the Persona Team was now fully focusing on Persona 5, and that master artist Shigenori Soejima has submitted several sketches for the next numbered entry in the series.

"Let's go ahead and declare it: preliminary preparation for the next numbered title is basically finished, and from here on out development will be going at full speed... The theme is more or less set, and the staff are all even more enthusiastic about challenging themselves than they were after Persona 3." Hashino has stated. Hashino will be directing the game, with Shigenori Soejima doing character design and Shoji Meguro as sound composer.

Interviews had stated that the Persona team had developed Catherine as a testbed for Persona 5, however it has been said that they will not be using the Gamebryo engine for Persona 5, instead opting for an engine they created specifically for the title.

Official Reveal

Teaser from the Persona 5 trailer.

On November 24, 2013, Atlus officially revealed Persona 5 through a live stream. Not a lot of information regarding the game was shown, but a release date of "Winter 2014" was shown. It was also confirmed to be a PlayStation 3 title, suggesting that it's exclusive for the platform since no mention of Xbox 360 was made. The trailer also confirmed involvement from Katsura Hashino, Shigenori Soejima, and Shoji Meguro.

A single sentence regarding the game was teased in the trailer: "You are slave. Want emancipation?"

On November 26, additional information surfaced from the Japanese website Dengeki. The chairs featured in the original teaser is a setting from a Japanese high school classroom. The theme of Persona 5 will focus on the emotion of joy after overcoming trials (thus freeing yourself from chains, pictured in the teaser with chains around school chairs), which could be some form of criticism against the strict and stressful Japanese school system.